ISLAMABAD, May 25: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that Pakistan successfully test-fired its medium-range missile, adding that “it was not meant to give any message to anyone”.
Speaking at the National Seerat Conference here, the president said that Pakistan did not want war with India, but was not afraid of it either, if imposed on it.
Referring to the current standoff with India, he said the country was passing through a critical phase. The president, however, expressed the confidence that the country would overcome the crisis with success and honour.
The president also emphasized the need for forging unity among the leaders of public opinion and stated that he was determined to restore democracy by holding fair and free elections before Oct 12.
Responding to a reported statement that India was not impressed by missile testing, the president said: “We are also not impressed either by the reports suggesting that India had given us two months time to meet its demands to avoid war.”
He said no one should underestimate our capability if a war was imposed on us as the whole world was aware of Pakistan’s might.
The president said he was ready to again invite those leaders who earlier refused his invitation.
The president criticized those writers who write without realizing the negative impact of their writings on the country. He said such irresponsible talks did not inflict any personal harm but damage the country’s interests..
He said when the government takes a decision in line with the national interest it becomes incumbent upon the entire nation to support and strengthen that decision.
Gen Musharraf said though restoration of democracy was an objective to achieve, solidarity and security of Pakistan came even ahead of everything and the quest for democracy must not harm the country’s safety.
He said recent terrorist attack in Karachi had affected the country’s economy and called for unity in fight against extremism.
The president also advised the people not to fall prey to those elements who wanted to create chaos and anarchy in the country in the name of sectarian and other prejudices.
He said every one had the right to hold his ideological and religious thoughts and if someone had the ambition to bring others to his faith he should set his own example of being a better human being.
The president called upon Ulema and Mashaikh to promote unity, national cohesion and help the government in its efforts to bring reforms to religious education.
EDUCATIONAL REFORMS: He said the objective of these reforms was to bring hundreds of thousands of students of religious institutions to the mainstream and provide them equal opportunities to join any field which they wish.
Referring to the title of Seerat conference “Establishment of an exemplary educational system in light of prophet’s teachings in Pakistan,” Gen Musharraf stressed the need for bringing about harmony between religious and modern education.
He said the government was working on a multi-pronged strategy for changing the educational system by harmonising the religious education with the modern education with an objective of meeting the needs of future. Under the plan, he said a new syllabus for the religious schools (Madaris) would be enforced from the next academic year and those Madaris which would voluntarily join this system would be enrolled. He assured the Ulema that those Madaris which did not have much resources to introduce four compulsory subjects — English, Maths, Pakistan Studies and General Science — would be provided with necessary financial resources.
Giving a brief resume of the state of education in Muslim world, the president said that Japan alone had over 1,000 universities as against 380 to 400 in the entire Muslim world. Similarly, UK alone was producing 3,000 PhDs every year, while only 500 PhDs were produced in the entire Muslim world put together.
He said he had already directed Federal Minister for Science and Technology Dr Attaur Rahman to visit Muslim states and deliver to their heads a letter from him. The minister had already visited Saudi Arabia and done the needful, the president said.
The president said that our aim was to set up centres of excellence in every Muslim state for the purpose of attaining self-reliance in the field of science and technology to achieve the goal of financial progress.
He said that he had decided to appoint Dr Attaur Rahman chairman of the proposed higher education commission which would replace the University Grants Commission.
Strict security measures were adopted for the conference as a large number of law enforcement agency officials both in uniform and plainclothes were deployed at the venue. Almost half of the those invited failed to get into the premises as their cards did not have the seal of security agency.
The participants were also subjected to body search, questioning and were not allowed to take their cellular phones inside the hall.
Earlier, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Dr Mehmud Ahmed Ghazi welcomed the guests and highlighted main features of the conference
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